Code of Conduct
- Purpose
- Welcoming environment
- Expected Behavior
- Unacceptable Behavior
- Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior
- If You Witness or Are Subject to Unacceptable Behavior
- Scope
- Contact and Trust Committee
Purpose
A primary goal of Rails Girls Summer of Code is to be inclusive to the all of our part-takers - participants, coaches, mentors, supervisors and everyone in the organizing team, with the most varied and diverse backgrounds possible. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and religion (or lack thereof).
This code of conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in our community, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior.
We invite all those who participate in Rails Girls Summer of Code to help us create safe and positive experiences for everyone.
Welcoming environment
A supplemental goal of this Code of Conduct is to increase an open and welcoming environment by encouraging community participants to recognize and strengthen the relationships between our actions and their effects on our community.
Communities mirror the societies in which they exist and positive action is essential to counteract the many forms of inequality and abuses of power that exist in society.
Expected Behavior
- Participate in an supporting and active way. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.
- Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
- Attempt collaboration before conflict.
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
- Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert the [trust committee](#contact) if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
Unacceptable Behavior
Unacceptable behaviors include: intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning speech or actions by any participant in our community online, at all related events and in one-on-one communications carried out in the context of team work. Community event venues may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations.
Harassment includes: harmful or prejudicial verbal or written comments related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability; inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces (including presentation slides); deliberate intimidation, stalking or following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior
Unacceptable behavior from any community member, including sponsors and those with decision-making authority, will not be tolerated.
Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.
If a community member engages in unacceptable behavior, the community organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including a temporary ban or permanent expulsion from the community.
If You Witness or Are Subject to Unacceptable Behavior
If you are subject to or witness unacceptable behavior, or have any other concerns, please notify a member of the trust committee as soon as possible.
Additionally, members of the trust committee are available to help community members engage with local law enforcement or to otherwise help those experiencing unacceptable behavior feel safe. In the context of in-person events, organizers will also provide escorts as desired by the person experiencing distress.
Scope
We expect all community participants (contributors, paid or otherwise; sponsors; and other guests) to abide by this Code of Conduct in all community venues—online and in-person—as well as in all one-on-one communications during all things and activities related to Rails Girls Summer of Code.
Contact and Trust Committee
We have set up a trust committee that consist of both people involved with organizing, and externals. You can contact the person you feel most comfortable reaching out to. By offering external contacts that are not involved in the project we want to make sure that if you have problems with people involved in the organization, you have a safe contact to turn to. They will act as a mediator. The trust committee will leave your request anonymous (unless this is not an issue for you) and devote their time to fixing any issue you might have. This covers everything from feeling uncomfortable with somebody, having personal issues in your life you need help with, feeling bullied, misunderstood, discriminated against, disrespected etc.
Trust Committee
Anne Wizorek (external) is the founder and editor-in-chief of kleinerdrei.org, a German blog about feminism, politics, media criticism, nerdery and pop culture. Wizorek's activism focuses on education around rape culture and gender equity, and she uses online tools to achieve offline social change. In 2013 she started the highly visible #aufschrei (#outcry) Twitter hashtag ad-hoc-campaign, which brings everyday sexism and sexual harassment to light.
When she isn’t busy making the world a better place, Wizorek advises corporations and non-profits on social media strategies as a freelance digital media consultant.
Jen Myers (external) is a web designer/developer and part of the instructor team at Dev Bootcamp in Chicago. In 2011, she founded the Columbus, Ohio chapter of Girl Develop It, an organization that provides introductory coding classes aimed at women, and currently works with Girl Develop It Chicago as a teacher and advisor. She speaks regularly about design, development and diversity, and focuses on finding new ways to make both technology and technology education accessible to everyone. She also is a single mother to an eight-year-old daughter who keeps her busy teaching HTML, playing video games and constantly learning.
Uta Sommer (external) obtained a Bachelor’s degree in History and Gender Studies, just finished her Master in Gender Studies at Humboldt-University in Berlin and is currently planning her Ph.D. project. During her studies she was actively involved in the student representative group where she, amongst other things, worked as a student counselor.
Anika Lindtner (organizer) was born and raised in Berlin, studied Linguistics and Gender Studies. She works at Travis CI and runs the Travis Foundation that wants to make Open Source even better, e.g. fostering diversity in Open Source and Tech in general. Anika co-founded Rails Girls Berlin and this is the second edition of Rails Girls Summer of Code, which she is involved as a core organizer.
Sven Fuchs (organizer) is a programmer. He might have lost his moustache but he remains one of the public figures for Travis-CI and front-man of Rails Girls Summer of Code.
This Code of Conduct is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license and an edited version of the Citizen Code of Conduct.